Thanks to a change in legislation, new Vancouver breweries are popping up all over the city with tasting rooms and growler fills to keep up with the ever rising popularity of craft beer.

You may be able to easily understand what a tasting room is (a room to taste the freshly brewed beer!), but what the heck is a growler?!

Essentially, a growler is a large (2L) old-school jug that can be filled with beer at almost any local brewery in town. It typically costs $5-10 initially to buy and then ~$9-15 to fill up. Filling a growler at a local Vancouver brewery means that you get fresh beer to-go! Instead of heading to the liquor store to buy beer that may have been sitting on the shelves for a few weeks/months, you can rest assured that your beer is as fresh as a daisy.

So, where can you get your growler filled in Vancouver?

East Vancouver

Image courtesy of 33 Acres Brewing Company

33 Acres Brewing Company

33 Acres Brewing Company was launched by owner Josh Michnik and brewer Dave Varga, and features two flagship beers: 33 Acres of Life, a lager/ale hybrid in the California Common style; and 33 Acres of Ocean, a West Coast style pale ale. The spirit of the brewery is about community sharing; Drink, food, conversation, space, and ideas. Beer and food is available Monday-Thursday from 12-9, Friday & Saturday from 11-11, and Sunday from 12-5 at 15 W 8th Avenue.

Brassneck Brewery

Opened last summer, Brassneck Brewery is the brainchild of the Alibi Room’s Nigel Springthorpe and local brewer Conrad Gmoser, who spent the last 17 years at Steamworks. Brassneck sells growlers and customers can sample a wide variety of beer styles, buy a glassful to enjoy in the tasting lounge, or simply fill up their growler and be on their way. Located at 2148 Main Street at 6th Avenue, Brassneck is open Monday-Friday from 2-11 and Saturday-Sunday from 12-11.

Powell Street Craft Brewery

Powell Street Craft Brewery, opened by husband & wife team David Bowkett and Nicole Stefanopoulos in late 2012, is one of Vancouver’s newest nano-breweries. They focus on brewing small handcrafted batches, using all natural ingredients, as much of it local as possible. Beer tastings and growler fills are available Wednesday to Saturday from 1pm to 7pm at 1830 Powell St.

Parallel 49 Brewing Company

Parallel 49 Brewing Company was founded by three guys who grew up together in East Van less than 10 minutes from the spot where the brewery now stands. Visit their tasting room to sample beers from the taps, purchase bottles, or get your growler filled with fresh draft! Open from Noon – 9pm daily at 1950 Triumph Street.

North Vancouver

Image courtesy of the Bridge Brewing Company

Bridge Brewing Company

The Bridge Brewing Company is Vancouver’s First Nano Brewery located in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. Their beer is all about having fun with the highest quality ingredients with minimal impact on the environment. Growler fills are available from 1-7pm daily at 115-2433 Dollarton Hwy, North Vancouver.

Green Leaf Brewing Company

The Green Leaf Brewing Company in North Vancouver just recently opened its doors in Lonsdale Quay. With a convenient location and great local beer, this brewery is focusing on the local, fresh and environmental aspects of brewing craft beer. Tastings and growler fills are available from 9-7 daily.

Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers

The co-founders of Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers wanted to create a company that reflected their lifestyles – laid back and filled with fun. With a focus on inspiring good times and laughter, story telling and memory making they have worked towards a company that would have an emphasis on tradition, passion and craftsmanship. The tasting room is open Monday-Tuesday from 4-8pm and Wednesday-Sunday from 12-8pm at Unit 170 – 2270 Dollarton Highway, Deep Cove.

Heard of any other great breweries to fill up your growler in Vancouver? Let us know in the comment section below!

I’m a proud CAMRA growler owner but have been curious about this for some time: How long can beer stay in one refrigerated without going flat? Just one opening and then that’s it, or can it be recapped and stored back again?

Probably best to ask the brewery when you fill up, but I have heard that it can last up to 6 days, even if you open it. There are some products that you can buy to make the carbonation last, but I’m not sure what they are called.

I’ve kept them for up to 6 weeks and they are still fresh and well carbonated. But not all beer filling stations are created equally. You need to ask a couple of questions when you go for a fill.
1. Is the forced carbonation on the keg used to fill your growler generous or light? The lighter the carbonation, the less time your growler carbonation level will last in the fridge.
2. Does the growler fill station include an inert gas post fill-up. Keeping as much oxygen out of the growler as possible will lengthen the best-before date of the beer in your growler significantly. Kulshan brewery in Bellingham openly state their growler (pre-fills) last 6 weeks. And they do. Why would you want it to last 6 weeks? Well, sometimes we fill too many growlers in one week…oops!

I found that once it is cracked open you have 24 hours to drink it before it goes flat. It got me thinking so i sourced some really cool mini keg growlers made out of stainless steel and has an optional disepensing tap with a co2 cartridge to keep the beer fresh for weeks! They come in two sizes, standard 2 L and a 4L double growler. I hope to start selling them in the begining of the new year.

I know Bitter tasting room does fills but only if their own growlers and they are pretty pricey. There is also R & B on Main St. Some other great places are Central City in Surrey and Four Winds in Delta. Soon there will also be Bomber brewery on Adenac and Main Street Brewery off Main as well.

Bridge brewery told me up to a week unopened but a day or so once uncapped. The Cornerstone in Pemberton Heights is a neighborhood licensed bistro with draft — and they fill growlers as well. Granville Island Brewery charged 14 for an ‘Auld Schul’ Scottish Ale whereas Bridge was only $12 each for a Bitter as well as a growler of stout. Perhaps ‘seasonal’ beer is more expensive? Or Granville Island charges more.

Another one to add to the list. Postmark Brewing @ 55 Dunlevy Ave, Vancouver will be starting to fill growlers with the first beers in a week. Full beer lineup we be out just before the end of the month.

Steamworks Brewing Co has long filled growlers off the taps at their Brew Pub in Gastown , but they now have a production Brewery and Taproom in Burnaby just below the Heights neighbourhood (3845 William St, Burnaby).http://www.steamworks.com/brewery

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